Pyro the K9 helps nab robbery suspect

Jevauno Teejay Collins is charged with robbing a U.S. postal worker on Aug. 19.

Austin L. Miller @almillerosb

SILVER SPRINGS SHORES — With the help of Pyro the K9, deputies arrested a Silver Springs Shores man they say robbed a U.S. Postal Service driver at gunpoint on Aug. 19.

Jevauno Teejay Collins was apprehended Tuesday after Pyro found him hiding under a storage shed in Silver Springs Shores. He had been running from Marion County Sheriff’s deputies and members of the U.S. Marshal's Service, the Sheriff's Office reported.

Collins, 24, was charged with robbery with a firearm in connection with the Aug. 19 holdup. He was also charged with resisting arrest without violence. Authorities said they spotted Collins leaving a vehicle in Silver Springs Shores Tuesday. He ran upon seeing them.

According to MCSO Detective Travis O’Cull, the postal worker was loading her vehicle for delivery when she noticed there was a medium-sized flat-rate box for a home at 11 Spring Lane Way in Silver Springs Shores. She said the address was listed as vacant, so she did not deliver it.

Later, during her route, the employee said she was stopped by a man asking about the package. She told him she would bring the package with her the next day and that he needed identification before she could release the item to him.

The next day— Aug. 19 — the woman said she went to the address on the box and saw the same man sitting in a vehicle parked on the side of the driveway. The postal worker said she knocked on the door and when no one answered, she returned to her vehicle and drove away.

The woman said as she delivered mail to a residence on Southeast 79th Avenue Road, a vehicle drove in front of her and stopped, partially blocking her path. She said the man then approached her.

At first, he was polite, she said, and asked for the box. When he could not provide a proper identification, the woman said the man offered to pay her $500 for the box. When she declined, the man pointed a handgun at her and demanded the box. He threatened to shoot her if she did not give him the box. She gave him the box and the man got into his vehicle and drove away.

She called 911.

From his investigation, O’Cull was able to identify the suspect as Collins. Officials did not recover the box.